Blue Island dates to 1836, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #150 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Joshua P. Young House. Its Register listing is the Joshua P. Young House. Below: 29 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1839.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Blue Island’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Blue Island is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #150 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Blue Island’s overall grade.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Blue Island’s 0.5 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.7 points). Two sources give 1836.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Blue Island’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Norman Rexford came to Chicago from Charlotte, Vermont in 1835 and in 1836 became the first permanent settler of Blue Island when he established the Blue Island House near the intersection of present-day Western Avenue and Gregory Street just north of the Western Avenue bridge. Before Rexford built the Blue Island House he had constructed a four-room log cabin in the wilderness at the north end of the Blue Island ridge that he intended as a tavern for wayfarers, but after a year realized that the place was not likely to be profitable for him and began to look for another site where he might have more success. Although farther from Fort Dearborn and the settlement at Chicago (which by that time was incorporated and had a population of several thousand persons) by about 3 miles (5 km), the new inn was better situated because it was located on the Wabash Road (in Blue Island now Western Av…
Passages that mention Blue Island, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Cook County, Illinois1909 · page 330Read the page →
Read the text
At a very early date religious societies began to hold services at Blue Island. Several of the earliest meetings were held in schoolhouses. The Methodist Episcopal people had an organization as early at least as 1865, and their first structure was erected about that date. The German Methodists of Blue Island organized a short time before with a membership of about thirty-seven. This society embraced the district included in what was then known as Blue
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Cook County, Illinois. From the earliest period to the present time1884 · page 637Read the page →
Read the text
But Morgan Park remained a part of Blue Island, and did not take the name it now bears until, in 1S69, the Blue Island Land & Building Company was incorporated and began the platting of a village at this point, to be called Morgan Park. This was done, antl both ridge and prairie south of One Hundred and Seventh Street to Lyon Avenue, the northern limit of Blue Island, and east of Western Avenue to a line parallel with
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Cook County, Illinois. From the earliest period to the present time1884 · page 628Read the page →
Read the text
those days, are as follows : On Friday, the 18th of December, 1857, the dead body of a man was found lying on the ground by the roadside in the town of Worth, and near the village of Blue Island. In the road, opposite the spot where the body was lying, was a large pool of blood, and from this a bloody trail showed that the deed hail been done in the road and the murderer bad then dragged the body to the spot where
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Cook County, Illinois1909 · page 332Read the page →
Read the text
ington Heights proper comprises an elevated ridge extending from the south line of Lake township in the direction of the village of Blue Island. The ridge is about six miles long. It was first laid out in 1869 by the Blue Island Land and Building company. One of the first settlers in this vicinity was William Barnard, who had a son William. Other settlers about the same date were John Lynch, James Garrity, Martin Vanderstar, William Welp, Mathias Kay and S. H. McNab. The latter was one of the early postmasters.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Blue Island, 1836 to 1985
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Blue Island, census by census
Between 1,542 and 23,706 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Blue Island’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Places now gone
Blue Island’s post office has been open since 1839.
Gone or out of use
Blue Island Covenant ChurchchurchCentral Baptist ChurchchurchGarfield SchoolschoolHoly Cross Lutheran ChurchchurchSaint Pauls Evangelical ChurchchurchSanders Schoolschool
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Finish Blue Island’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
5 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
In 1836, according to Wikidata. Blue Island’s post office opened in 1839, and the census of 1880 counted 1,542 people here.
How does Blue Island rank for history?
Blue Island is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #150 of 768 in Illinois. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Blue Island?
One place: the Joshua P. Young House (listed 1982).
How old are the homes in Blue Island?
29% of Blue Island’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1961.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (19), the Library of Congress (10), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1874
1885
c. 1890
1899
1899
c. 1902
1902
1910
1911
1911
1923
1938
1939
1943
1943
1943
1943
1943
1943
1943
1943
1943
1943
1943
1943
1943
1943
1943
1943
